Third Death Sentence Issued Against Nasser Bekarzadeh Despite Repeated Overturning by the Supreme Court
6-February-2026
Category: Uncategorized
6 February 2026
News Category: Prisoners –
Breathing in Confinement – Nasser Bekarzadeh, a security prisoner held at Urmia Prison, has been sentenced to death for the third time by Branch Two of the Urmia Revolutionary Court on charges of “espionage,” even though the previous death sentences in his case had been overturned twice by the Supreme Court.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Seydad Shirzad, one of Nasser Bekarzadeh’s defence lawyers, stated in a post on the social media platform X that:
“Branch Two of the Urmia Revolutionary Court, despite the death sentence having been overturned twice by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, has for the third time issued a death sentence against Mr Bekarzadeh. This ruling was formally communicated on Tuesday to myself and my colleagues, Amir Raisian and Nihad Irandoust. This is despite the fact that the fundamental flaws and the explicit legal reasoning set out by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court remain fully applicable in the third judgment as well. Nevertheless, the lower court has once again issued a death sentence without addressing these issues. Previously, Supreme Court judges, in two separate rulings and for multiple reasons, had found that the charge of espionage for Israel had not been substantiated and accordingly overturned the death sentences.”
Nasser Bekarzadeh, a citizen from Urmia, was first arrested at the age of 25 on 9 August 2023. After several weeks of interrogation and the extraction of a written undertaking, he was temporarily released. However, he was re-arrested on 2 January 2024 by security forces and transferred to the detention centre of the Intelligence Department, where he has remained in custody since.
The reissuance of a death sentence against this prisoner, despite its repeated annulment by the Supreme Court, has raised serious legal and judicial concerns regarding the conduct of the proceedings and the observance of the principles of a fair trial in this case.